1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lever-type connector and to a connector assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-293723 discloses a lever-type connector configured so that a lock is formed on an outer side surface of a first housing and a hook is formed on an inner side surface of a side wall of a wire cover. The wire cover is assembled with the first housing to cover a wire draw-out surface of the first housing and is held in an assembled state by the engagement of the lock and the hook. A lever is supported rotatably on a support shaft formed on an outer side surface of the side wall of the wire cover. A cam groove of the lever and a cam follower of a second housing are engaged and the lever is rotated to connect the two housings by pulling them toward each other.
An operating portion of the lever is displaced in a direction intersecting an engaging direction of the lock and the hook and parallel to the side wall. An operating force applied to the operating portion acts on the wire cover via the support shaft and the side wall. As a result, the wire cover may be displaced substantially in the same direction as a displacing direction of the operating portion relative to the first housing and a locking margin between the lock and the hooking portion may be reduced.
Further, since the lever is supported on the support shaft formed on the outer side surface of the side wall of the wire cover, connection resistance between the two housings acts on the side wall via the engagement of the cam groove and the cam follower in the process of rotating the lever. As a result, the side wall may be displaced in a direction away from the outer side surface of the first housing and the locking margin between the lock and the hook may be reduced.
A countermeasure structure has considered forming a guide groove on the outer side surface of the first housing and extending parallel to the assembling direction of the wire cover. The guide groove would have a trapezoidal cross-section and would intersect a length direction. The countermeasure also would form a guide rib on the inner side surface of the side wall of the wire cover to extend parallel to the guide groove. The guide rib also would have a trapezoidal cross-section and would engage the guide groove. This countermeasure is intended to restrict displacement of the wire cover relative to the first housing in two-dimensional directions intersecting the length directions of the guide groove and the guide rib (i.e. a direction parallel to the side wall and a direction intersecting the side wall) to avoid reducing the locking margin between the lock projections.
However, when the lock projection of the wire cover moves over the lock projection of the first housing as the wire cover is assembled, a lock projection formation area of the side wall of the wire cover will displace resiliently out. However, an outward displacement of a guide rib formation area of the side wall is restricted by the engagement of the guide rib and the guide groove. Thus, the amount of resilient deflection of the side wall increases when the lock projections move over each other, and frictional resistance between the lock projections increases. If the frictional resistance between the lock projections increases, the assembling operability of the wire cover decreases. Therefore, an improvement is desired.
The invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to reduce frictional resistance between lock projections in the process of assembling a wire cover while potentially suppressing a resilient displacement of a side wall of the wire cover when a lever is operated.